What is respect?

Respect is a positive feeling or action shown towards someone or something considered important, or held in high esteem or regard; it conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities; and it is also the process of honoring someone by exhibiting care, concern, or consideration for their needs or feelings.

Respect is something easily overlooked, or even misinterpreted as just any kind of attention.

It’s also something of key importance in naturism (and real nudism).

Objectification

In an interview I heard an older lady talk about respect. She said that, in the ‘outside’ society (meaning the world outside a naturist area), women are trained to wear these clothes, put on that make-up, behave such an so, all to be acceptable. That same ‘outside’ society trains men to be on the lookout for such women. She said also that such a society implicitly trains men to see women as objects.

This is exactly what the industry is after. Creating impossible goals for people. The reason for nervous breakdowns, cosmetic surgery (lunacy, surgery should be saved to rescue people’s lives) and a never-ending stream of frustration.

Naturism and respect

The lady then spoke about her experience at naturist resorts. People there treat you with respect, she said. Men don’t need to undress you with their eyes, because there’s nothing to undress. They look at your face, talk with you because they want to talk with you. And that implies respect.

Most amazing fact about this lady was that, as a child, she’d been sexually abused between the ages of 10 and 20. She said that in the ‘outside’ world she often overdressed as to appear sexless, and still she felt insecure. In a naturist environment she felt safe, respected, accepted, and she felt no fear at all.

Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that beautiful? How much baring yourself can bring?

Do you have experiences of respect that are related to naturism where you would have expected them to occur in the ‘outside’ world as well? I’d love to hear about them…

Converting to nudism.

I never try to convert people to nudism and I have several reasons for that.

Reason 1: Respect.

If you’re pushing your opinion onto other people, you show a total lack of respect. Note that this is not the same as telling people what you think and feel.

Do you like having people going on and on, taking up your time, talking about things you know you don’t want to hear? Probably not. It’s that with our way of life.

Sometimes people aren’t ready for it and they don’t want to hear about it constantly, no matter how good your intentions are. Respect other people’s opinion and way of life.

Reason 2: Being ready.

People can be not ready to engage in naturism. You need to understand that they, like everyone of us, grew up in their own environment with their own beliefs and convictions.

Many of them ‘know’ that being naked is not good, abnormal, sinful, not like their God told them to live and whatever other reason you can think of. There are plenty of them.

Trying to convert such people will only make them angry. You’re actually pushing them away from the nude lifestyle. It’s one thing to tell them how you live, another to push them into it. If someone is interested in some way or another, you can talk about it. If they’re still interested you can invite them. Don’t tell anyone he or she has to try it, though. The world and in many cases religion already puts enough ‘have to’s’ on people, having another one is not what most people need.

Reason 3: be the change.

Mahatma Gandhi

This is the only proper way to demonstrate how you feel, how you are and how you wish to continue. Tell people who you are and what you are. See if they are curious. If not: at least you have told your story. If yes: they will ask more.

Be the one you say you are. If you say you love to be naked and you have the option to be naked at home: do it. Tell the people they ‘risk‘ seeing you undressed when they come to visit. There’s always the option for them to warn you that they’re coming and please put something on. At that point it’s up to you do do that or decline that. Here comes the respect part again as well. It’s partly from your side but certainly also from their side. If they can’t respect you to be the way you want in your home then they should invite you over to their home.

End words.

Maybe you agree with all this. Maybe you have entirely other ideas. I respect that. These views are mine.

Whatever you feel, thank you for reading this far. If you have something to say about it, there’s always the comment box. Share your ideas. Tell me about them.